Tandem Cycling Santa Fe - Alburquerque Area

We are taking our Bike Friday tandem to the Santa Fe - Albuquerque area in mid September. I am looking for some ideas on loop style rides. We rented a place in Santa Fe to stay for the week. We are renting a mini van to haul the bike around once assembled, so we can start from anywhere, just need to get back to the same spot the same day when done. We like to ride 35 -40 miles a day. We are from the flat midwest so our typical rides are less than 1000' of climbing. That will probably create the biggest challenge. Thanks for any ideas or routes anyone can suggest.
Mike..

The road to the ski area in Santa Fe is just a few blocks from the old downtown, however, that's going to be a lot more than 1000' of climbing. You don't have to do the whole thing though. The forest transitions from pine and brush to spruce and aspen about 9000', you could go up that far and turn around.

I didn't take my bike when I was there in 2010 and wish I had of. I was there for a wedding though and disappearing for an all-day bike ride wasn't an option. I did do a lot of hiking in the higher altitude areas though as it was about 20 degrees cooler once you got into spruce and aspen.

I loved my time in that area and would like to go back. It's about a 10-12 hour drive from Austin, so one of these days...

The high road to Taos might be another option. I drove it in 2010 and it didn't seem like a lot of traffic was on the road. It was a bit confusing in the car though as far as which roads to stay on and so forth. I got turned around a few times, but other than that it was a highly enjoyable drive. Maybe it would be better on the bike though as you would have more time to interpret the directions.

There's tons of artist enclaves and communities that are pretty interesting to stop at. Don't know if you're into that sort of stuff or not.

A bit more hillwork/altitude in New Mexico than Dayton.
It may take a couple days for your lungs to get used to the elevation.
But definitely great riding.
Enjoy the ride TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem